Adam Ondra and Julia Chanourdie win Arco Rock Master 2017

The 31st Arco Rock Master Trophy was won using the Duel formula on 26 August 2017 by Adam Ondra and Julia Chanourdie. A few hours earlier the fourth stage of the Lead World Cup was won by Jakob Schubert and Jain Kim, while the Speed World ​​Cup was won by Vladislav Deulin and Anouck Jaubert.

Having already mentioned the Arco Rock Legends 2017 evening celebration during which Mike Kosterlitz, Janja Garnbret and Margo Hayes were celebrated as this year’s winners, it’s time to focus on the fact that the Arco Rock Master obviously also hosted some gripping climbing with the fourth stage of the World Cup Lead and Speed. 72 female athletes and 85 male athletes competed in the Lead event during which Alexander Megos surprised everyone by taking part after five years of absence from the competition scene. The German super star climbed far better than everyone else, quite literally dominating both the qualification and the semi-final, hence exceptions were stellar for his performance in the final round. Last out of isolation, the 24-year-old fell however almost right at the start of the route and the final was one by Austria’s grandiose Jakob Schubert who’d fired high up the wall before being timed out after six minutes. Adam Ondra took second place in front of the Austria’s Max Rudigier who celebrated his first-ever Lead World Cup podium. Ondra and Rudigier had actually fallen off the same hold but as per rules countback was used to separate the two.

Even in the women's competition time became an issue: South Korea’s Jain Kim climbed smoothly and slowly and after her six minutes the judges called her down from hold #38, the same hold from which a few minutes earlier Switzerland’s Anne-Sophie Koller had fallen. Countback worked in Kim’s favour and the Swiss celebrated her first senior silver. Bronze wen to Slovenia’s Janja Garnbret who fell from hold #32 just like France’s Julia Chanourdie and America’s Ashima Shiraishi; once again countback to the Semis was used to separate the three.

Duel The duel assigned the Rock Master trophy and for the third year running - and tor the fourth time ever - the fastest in this spectacular discipline was Adam Ondra. The Czech stopped the clock in less than a minute - 58:53 to be precise - to beat Italy’s increasingly powerful Marcello Bombardi. Jakob Schubert placed third, beating Japan’s Keiichiro Korenaga in the small final. In the women's competition Julia Chanourdie won her first Rock Master title by beating last year’s winner Janja Garnbret. The sprint for third place was won by England’s surprising Molly Thompson-Smith who beat Belgium’s Anak Verhoeven.

Boulder This year KO Boulder had a really impressive starting list and included the best of the best, without a shadow of doubt. After battling against a series of injuries, America’s Alex Puccio celebrated her comeback in style by sending all four problems first go. Serbia’s Stasa Gejo placed second ahead of Slovenia’s Katja Kadic. In the men's competition a Superfinal was needed to separate 2017 and 2015 Boulder World Cup winner Jongwon Chon from Italy’s Gabriele Moroni. In the end the South Korean beat the crowd-favourite, while Russia’s Alexey Rubtsov placed third. Those who failed to make the podium therefore were Jan Hojer, Jernej Kruder, Michael Piccolruaz, Keita Watabe, and Giorgia Tesio, Aya Onoe and Anna Stöhr.

Speed The fourth leg of the Speed ​​World Cup was won by Russia’s Vladislav Devlin, who beat Iran’s Reza Alipourshenazandifar who took an early fall in the final. Italy’s Ludovico Fossali sprinted into third by beating Ukraine’s Danyil Boldyrev in the small final. In the women's event Russia’s Iulia Kaplina made a false start and handed victory to France’s Anouck Jaubert, while a fall in the small final proved costly for Poland’s Anna Brozek, who saw third place go to Russia’s Anna Tsyganova.

Rock Junior As per tradition, Arco also hosted hundreds and hundreds of young climbers who in two days - Thursday and Sunday - demonstrated how great athletic ability can be matched by pure fun. For all the results check out www.rockmasterfestival.com

23.08.2017Mike Kosterlitz in Arco for the Climbing AmbassadorOn Friday 25 August at Arco, Italy, Mike Kosterlitz will be the special guest of the 12th Arco Rock Legends, the sport climbing Oscars. The climber and Nobel Prize in Physics laureate will receive the Climbing Ambassador by Dryarn® di Aquafil. The candidates for the Wild Country Rock Award are Stefano Ghisolfi (Ita), Margo Hayes (USA) and Adam Ondra (Cze), while Shauna Coxsey (GB), Janja Garnbret (Slo) and Domen Škofič (Slo) are the nominees of the La Sportiva Competition Award.

06.10.2016Mike Kosterlitz awarded Nobel Prize in PhysicsMike Kosterlitz was recently awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. Apart from his scientific genius, the Scotsman was an expert climber and mountaineer who left his mark in particular in Italy’s Orco valley with his famous Fessura Kosterlitz. By Giovanni Battimelli.

26.07.2017The children of Fessura Kosterlitz: the legendary crack climb in Valle dell'OrcoA legend, a desire destined to remain a dream for most climbers: this is what the Kosterlitz crack in Valle dell'Orco represented to the Italian climbing scene in the ’70’s and ’80’s after having been first ascended in the early 1970’s by Scotland’s Mike Kosterlitz. The 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics laureate will be at Arco on 25 August 2017 in order to receive the award Climbing Ambassador by Dryarn® di Aquafil during the Arco Rock Legends 2017. By Maurizio Oviglia.